This standard has been approved for use by agencies of the Department of Defense.
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This specification is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee A-1 on Steel,
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Stainless Steel, and Related Alloys and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 01.01.
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A01.15 on Bars. Available from Society of Automotive Engineers, 400 Commonwealth Drive,
Current edition approved March 10, 1999. Published June 1999. Originally Warrendale, PA 15096.
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published as A 108–26 T. Last previous edition A 108–95. Available from the Standardization Documents Order Desk, Bldg. 4, Section D,
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Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 01.05. 700 Robbins Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111-5094 Attn: NPODS.
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Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 01.03. Available from the American Iron and Steel Institute, 150 East 42nd St., New
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Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 03.01. York, NY 10017.
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A 108
TABLE 1 Composition of Cold-Finished Carbon Steel Bars
NOTE 1—Grade designations and compositions correspond to the respective AISI designations and compositions.
4.1.9 Report of heat analysis, if required, freedom from pipe and undue segregation.
4.1.10 End use, 5.4 Redraw Stock—The bars shall be produced from special
4.1.11 Additions to the specification and special or supple- quality hot-wrought carbon steel bars (Specification A 576) or
mentary requirements, if required, and from hot-wrought rods designated for cold-finished bars
4.1.12 For coiled product, the coil weights, inside diameter (Specification A 510).
and outside diameter limitations, when required. 5.5 Condition—The bars shall be furnished in one of the
NOTE 2—A typical ordering description is as follows: Steel Bar, ASTM following conditions as specified by the purchaser:
A 108, dated _____; SAE 1117; Coarse Grain; Cold Drawn; 6000 lb of 5.5.1 Rounds:
1.500-in. diameter by 10.0 to 12.0 ft long; Heat Analysis Required; Screw 5.5.1.1 Cold drawn,
Machine Parts.
5.5.1.2 Cold drawn, turned, and polished,
5. Materials and Manufacture 5.5.1.3 Cold drawn, ground, and polished,
5.1 Melting Practice—The steel shall be made by one or 5.5.1.4 Cold drawn, turned, ground, and polished,
more of the following primary processes: open-hearth, basic- 5.5.1.5 Hot wrought, turned, and polished, or
oxygen, or electric-furnace. The primary melting may incor- 5.5.1.6 Hot wrought, turned, ground, and polished.
porate separate degassing or refining and may be followed by 5.5.2 Squares, Hexagons—Cold drawn.
secondary melting using electroslag remelting or vacuum-arc 5.5.3 Flats:
remelting. Where secondary melting is employed, the heat
5.5.3.1 Cold drawn or
shall be defined as all of the ingots remelted from a single
primary heat. 5.5.3.2 Cold rolled.
5.2 Deoxidation: 5.6 Heat Treatment:
5.2.1 Unless otherwise specified, the steel may be rimmed, 5.6.1 Unless otherwise specified, the bars shall be furnished
capped, semi-killed, or killed at the manufacturer’s option. as cold finished except that when the maximum of the carbon
5.2.2 When required, the deoxidation practice, including range is over 0.55 % they shall be annealed for cold finishing.
killed steel, may be specified. 5.6.2 When property characteristics are required that are not
5.3 Discard—Sufficient discard shall be made to ensure available for the specified grade as developed in the as-rolled
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cold-finished condition, the following thermal treatments can elements required or restricted, shall conform to the ordered
be ordered: chemical composition subject to the permissible variations on
5.6.2.1 Annealed and cold finished, product analysis of the table (Permissible Variations for Prod-
5.6.2.2 Normalized and cold finished, uct Analysis of Carbon Steel) in Specification A 29/A 29M.
5.6.2.3 Cold drawn and stress relieved, or
5.6.2.4 Carbon restoration anneal to overcome surface de- 7. Workmanship, Finish, and Appearance
carburization on cold-drawn bars. (For round bars produced by 7.1 Workmanship—The bars shall be free of pipe, cracks,
turning, surface decarburization is removed during the manu- and flakes. Within the limits of good manufacturing and
facturing process.) inspection practices, the bars shall be free of injurious seams,
laps, segregation, or other imperfections which, due to their
6. Chemical Composition
nature, degree, or extent, will interfere with the use of the
6.1 Chemical Composition: material in machining or fabrication of suitable parts.
6.1.1 The steel shall conform to the chemical composition 7.2 Finish:
limits specified in Table 1 for the grade specified by the 7.2.1 Unless otherwise specified, the bars shall have a
purchaser. commercial bright smooth surface finish obtained by conven-
6.1.2 Carbon steels not listed in Table 1 can be specified. tional cold-finishing operations such as cold drawing, cold
Steels may be selected from Specifications A 510 and A 576; rolling, or turning and polishing.
Federal Standard 66 C; the SAE Handbook; or the AISI Steel 7.2.2 When required, bars may be specified to be ground
Product Manual for Carbon Steel Bars. and polished, turned and polished, or turned, ground, and
6.1.3 When a steel cannot be identified by a standard grade polished.
number in accordance with 6.1.1 and 6.1.2, the limits for each 7.2.3 Bars that are thermal treated after cold finishing may
required element may be specified using the chemical ranges have a discolored or oxidized surface.
shown in the table (Heat Analysis Chemical Ranges and Limits
7.3 Oiling—The bars shall be given a surface coating of oil
of Carbon Steel Bars) of Specification A 29/A 29M.
or other rust inhibitor to protect against rust during shipment.
6.1.4 When additional machinability-enhancing elements
are specified in accordance with Footnote D to Table 1, the 8. Certification
specified content of the element or elements shall be agreed
upon between purchaser and supplier. 8.1 Upon request of the purchaser in the contract or order, a
6.2 Heat Analysis—An analysis of each heat shall be made manufacturer’s certification that the material was manufactured
by the manufacturer to determine the percentages of the and tested in accordance with this specification together with a
elements specified. The analysis shall be made from a test report of the test results shall be furnished at the time of
sample preferably taken during the pouring of the heat. The shipment. If bismuth, selenium, tellurium, or calcium are added
chemical composition thus determined shall be reported to the in accordance with Footnote D of Table 1, the presence of these
purchaser or his representative when required by the purchase additional elements shall be noted on the certification.
order, and shall conform to the specified requirements.
6.3 Product Analysis—A product analysis may be made by 9. Keywords
the purchaser. The chemical composition thus determined, as to 9.1 carbon steel bars; cold-finished steel bars; steel bars
SUPPLEMENTARY REQUIREMENTS
One or more of the following supplementary requirements shall be applied only when specified by
the purchaser in the inquiry, contract, or order. Details of these supplementary requirements shall be
agreed upon in writing by the manufacturer and the purchaser. Supplementary requirements shall in
no way negate any requirement of the specification itself.
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A 108
solution and examination to evaluate soundness. An alternative S5.2 Hardenability band limits have been established for
method consists of fracturing a billet section and examination 1038H, 1045H, and 1541H as well as other grades that appear
of the fracture to evaluate soundness. in the SAE Handbook.
S4. Nonmetallic Inclusion Requirements S6. Grain Size
S4.1 The nonmetallic inclusion requirement comprises a S6.1 The steel shall conform to either the coarse austenitic
metallographic examination of longitudinal sections to deter- grain size requirement (except as stated in S6.2), or the fine
mine the nature and frequency of the nonmetallic inclusions. austenitic grain size requirement of Specification A 29/A 29M.
Experience indicates that samples taken midway between the S6.2 Certain elements, or combinations of elements, such as
center and surface of the bloom, billet, slab, or bar are most manganese, sulfur, and lead tend to produce grain refinement
representative of the average inclusion content of the lot and it is technically inappropriate to ensure coarse grain size as
involved. The test specimen is generally heated and quenched measured by the McQuaid-Ehn test on high manganese, high
to harden it before being polished to avoid polishing pits. The sulfur, and leaded steels such as 1144, 1151, and 11L41.
specimen is examined at 100 diameters. Methods for determin-
ing the nonmetallic inclusion content of steel are described in S7. Restricted Incidental Elements
Test Methods E 45.
S7.1 The purchaser may specify maximum requirements for
S4.2 For resulfurized steels, much of the sulfur is present as
copper, nickel, chromium, molybdenum, or other elements.
sulfide inclusions. For this reason, those steels are not generally
produced to inclusion rating.
S8. Thermal Treatment
S5. Special Heat-Treating Requirements S8.1 When required, the purchaser may specify that the
S5.1 Special heat treating (hardenability) is a term used material be stress relieved, annealed to specified structure,
when the purchaser specifies as a requirement the ability of a annealed to no specified structure, or normalized.
steel to heat treat to specified mechanical property values that
the purchaser must meet after his heat treatment. Care should S9. Mechanical Properties
be taken so that the desired mechanical property values are S9.1 When required, cold-finished bars can be supplied to
compatible with the chemical composition, size, and cross mechanical properties. Mechanical properties shall be deter-
section of the steel. mined in accordance with Test Methods and Definitions A 370.
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